*Editor’s Note: This opinion is in response to an article titled “Commissioners address noise ordinance,” published in the Wednesday, April 24 Lake Sun.

As a subscriber to the Lake Sun for the last 16 years, I have read some articles that have disappointed me, some more so, some less. The most disappointing yet was the one in the one on the front page of the April 24 issue. This was the one regarding the Commissioners addressing a possible noise ordinance.

Presiding Commissioner Kris Franken is quoted as saying “First, there is some concern as to our authority to institute such an ordinance because of the fact that we are not the county building code official”. He goes on to elaborate on decibel meters and the many problems associated with them”. He continues on to say that noise ordinances are “probably not the best choice” but does not give us the luxury of his recommendation as to what might be the best choice.

Associate Commissioner Beverly Thomas then jumps on the bandwagon to repeat that noise ordinances are “probably not the best choice”, but also does not give us her recommendation on what course of action should be taken. She does go on to say that “what we are doing is requiring venues to develop and construct sound abatement structures to help keep noise contained within or close to the venue”. This is great, Beverly. How about telling us how many venues have you put on notice to meet your requirement and what is the status of their progress? She also goes on to say “I guess what all of this means is that a noise ordinance is not currently being reviewed…” We have that picture very clearly now Beverly.

Associate Commissioner Cliff Luber (2nd District County Commissioner) comes on board to say “I am not in favor of a noise ordnance as they are too subjective”. He further states that “this is a very minor problem at the lake with only two active situations currently”. Let me give you a clue, Cliff. If the “minor problem” is next door to where you live, you would not make that statement. To me, that statement is totally uncalled for, and shows a complete disregard for the rights of some of our lake residents.

Let’s summarize for a minute. Our Camden County Planning and Zoning Commission had a recent meeting. A noise ordinance was discussed and put down by the various Commissioners as being not the best choice, not being reviewed, and too subjective. The only person that gave us a shred of hope was Beverly Thomas when she said they are requiring venues to develop and construct structures to contain noise. However, she does not divulge the status of this effort.

Page 2 of 2 - Mr. Gene Smith of Gravois Mills wrote a letter to the editor in the same Lake Sun edition that was published and asked the question “Where is Camden County on the noise issues” This is one example for you Gene. They do a lot of discussing without any proactive moves to correct the problem.

Does anyone see any evidence of any county leadership regarding solving excessive noise issues here at the lake? With one minor exception, not one positive statement was made at this meeting.